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Key stats

Market capitalisation

£1,346m

No. of shares out

200m

No. of shares floating

188m

No. of common shareholders

not stated

No. of employees

103

Trading volume (10 day avg.)

1m

Turnover

416m USD

Profit before tax

230m USD

Earnings per share

0.58 USD

Cashflow per share

0.59 USD

Cash per share

1.17 USD

Lancashire Holdings

UK equity income manager Neil Woodford has cut his stake in speciality insurance and reinsurance firm Lancashire Holdings (LRE), as the company is expected to take a further hit from recent hurricanes.

Woodford took his holding in the business from just 14.7% to 7.7% or 15.4 million shares worth £103 million at a price of 671.5p, down 8% over the last three months. The shares are mainly held in his Woodford Equity Income fund.

Lancashire Holdings is an insurance company that covers oil rigs, ships and aircraft. It recently said that hurricanes in the Caribbean and the US, as well as the earthquakes in Mexico would cost it between $106 million and $212 million.

The FTSE 250 company added the estimates fell within its modelled loss ranges. Group chief executive Alex Maloney, said: ‘The extensive news coverage turned our thoughts to those whose lives, livelihoods and businesses were devastated by these forces of nature. As we assess the financial impact of these losses for Lancashire, these events illustrate the value of our products to our clients.’

Key stats

Market capitalisation

£66m

No. of shares out

100m

No. of shares floating

50m

No. of common shareholders

not stated

No. of employees

1175

Trading volume (10 day avg.)

1m

Turnover

£614m

Profit before tax

£13m

Earnings per share

9.26p

Cashflow per share

11.10p

Cash per share

19.82p

Cambria Automobiles

Citywire AA-rated small cap stockpicker Giles Hargreave has pared his stake in car dealership Cambria Automobiles (CAMB) as its shares continue to trade sideways in a two-year holding pattern.

Hargreaves cut his investment from 5.9% to 3.8% of the company, a stake of 3.8 million shares worth £2.4 million at a share price of 63p. This is effectively static on October 2015 and down from a year high of 76p.

The shares are primarily held in his £997 million Marlborough UK Micro Cap Growth and £148 million Marlborough Nano Cap Growth funds.

Cambria was founded in 2006 to consolidate and turn round underperforming car dealerships. In an update issued last month the business reported trading ahead of prior years, but said it remained cautious on subdued demand and surging inflation.

In an interview with the Telegraph in May Cambria boss mark Lavery said that a recent boom in car sales had now come to an end, following a record 2.7 million sales in 2016, but that the market should stabilise between 5% and 10% lower.

Key stats

Market capitalisation

£87m

No. of shares out

53m

No. of shares floating

51m

No. of common shareholders

not stated

No. of employees

291

Trading volume (10 day avg.)

m

Turnover

£54m

Profit before tax

£8m

Earnings per share

10.08p

Cashflow per share

12.60p

Cash per share

8.88p

Flowtech Fluidpower

Small company stock picker Gervais Williams has reduced his stake in technical fluid power product distributor Flowtech Fluidpower (FLO), following a 29.7% rise in its share price over one year.

Williams and co-manager Martin Turner have pared back their holding in the business from 13.7% to 12.4%, a stake of 6.5 million shares worth £10.8 million at a share price of 165.35p.

The shares are held in their multi-cap dividend mandate the Diverse Income (DIVI) investment trust, as well as the Miton UK Smaller Companies and the Miton UK Multi-Cap Income funds.

AIM-listed Flowtech Fluidpower recently revealed a 34% rise in revenues for the nine months to 30 September to £54.5 million. Since the start of the year, the firm made six acquisitions which helped to bolster its geographical and sector coverage.

In a trading statement the company noted that the acquisitions ‘clearly reinforce the ongoing strategy to develop a focused fluid power group that serves a wide number of industry sectors, allowing a de-risking of some of the cyclical nature of the business’.

Key stats

Market capitalisation

£2,599m

No. of shares out

450m

No. of shares floating

m

No. of common shareholders

not stated

No. of employees

1473

Trading volume (10 day avg.)

-100,000m

Turnover

£128m

Profit before tax

£15m

Earnings per share

-9,999,999.00p

Cashflow per share

3.01p

Cash per share

0.42p

Sophos Group

Citywire AA-rated global growth investor Parvez Rostom has shaved his exposure to tech security business Sophos Group (SOPH) following a doubling in its share price over the last six months.

Rostom reduced his holding from just over 5% to 4.9% of the company, a stake of 23.2 million shares worth £136 million at a share price of 593p. The shares have rallied from 276p in April but closed at 577.5p on Friday after a 13.5p fall. The shares are primarily held in the Franklin International Growth fund, run by Rostom alongside Citywire A-rated co-managers Don Huber and Coleen Barbeau.

Sophos, which provides anti-virus and encryption software to mid-sized businesses, began to soar in April when it said it expected full-year 2016 results to beat a series of consensus estimates. In a July update it said outperformance had continued into its current year with billable account growth running at 30% over the three months to June.

The aggressive rerating has outstripped analysts’ attempts to keep pace, however. While a majority retain buy ratings the share price gains have overshot their median target of 536p.